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Samhain
Samhain is the Ghost of Halloween and one of the few villains to face the Ghostbusters on more than one occasion. He is a strategic ghost with the ability to manipulate time in order to cause eternal night. Samhain also has the ability to control legions of ghost at his command, however certain ghost such as Slimer seem able to resist him to a certain extent. Since his debut, Samhain has made many appearances throughout the Ghostbuster franchise, he was one of the ghost to make a cameo appearance on the second opening theme song and even made an appearance on the Extreme Ghostbusters theme song and end song (though never appeared in any actual episodes). He also made numerous cameo appearances throughout the show. Samhain has also appeared in the Now Ghostbusters Comics in two comics, and made reference to in another. He was also the only ghost from the show (other than Slimer) to receive a toy. History Animated Series Samhain first appears in the episode "When Halloween was Forever". In this episode, he had been imprisoned in an ancient clock for centuries. Once the clock is brought to New York from Ireland, Samhain is soon released from his captivity by his two goblin minions on Halloween night. Once set free, he gathers all the ghost he can and sends his minions all over New York. He also uses his powers to halt the night as he plans to make Halloween an eternal night that will last forever all over the world. The Ghostbusters however run all over town capturing his minions, to which Samhain confronts them out of rage. However, the Ghostbusters use his weakness against light to stun him and he is captured (along with his minions) just before the world falls under his evil reign forever. He is soon placed within the ecto-containment unit where it is assumed that he would stay. For quite some time, Samhain remained in his prison. Where he seemed to get along with his fellow inmates (even playing a few card games with them as shown in "Partners in Slime"). Yet despite getting along with his fellow inmates, he never enjoyed being imprisoned. Samhain does return to face the Ghostbusters once again in "Halloween II 1/2" thanks to his two goblins releasing him again. This time Samhain's primary goal is to take revenge on the Ghostbusters for his long imprisonment. He summons more ghost and quickly takes over the Ghostbusters headquarters, transforming it into his new fortress. The Ghostbusters managed to get everyone else and escape just before the headquarters completely transformed. The Ghostbusters attempt to use his weakness to light again, but Samhain puts up a protective barrier around the fortress that only other ghosts can pass through. Samhain then leads his minions around the town to search for the Ghostbusters, allowing the Jr. Ghostbusters to sneak in, yet Samhain returns and takes them hostage. The real Ghostbusters use a camera hooked up to Slimer and see that Samhain's fortress is held together by a timestone that is in the exact same place that the Containment Unit was in. The Ghostbusters attack Samhain in his fortress and blast the stone from outside the fortress while Slimer attempts to save the kids. After the Jr. Ghostbusters are gotten out, the timestone is destroyed, causing the the entire fortress to crumble and unveil the Containment Unit (which was left open after Samhain' escaped). With the Containment Unit still active, Samhain and his minions are sucked back into their prison. Now Comics In Now Comics #17, Samhain gets out yet again and takes Slimer, Janine, and Louis hostage. From Role-Playing Adventure book Series Samhain, very similar but not specifically the same, is a villain of the role-playing series (Tobin's Spirit Guide on page 50 and Pumpkin Patch Panic as the main villain). Personality Samhain is a direct action type of character, led solely by his mission. Samhain belives that ghosts have been treated unfairly in this world due to people like the Ghostbusters. He is guided by a mission to give ghosts like him a world where they rule and humans are the less dominant ones. Unlike many villains the Ghostbusters have faced, he has compassion for the ghosts he commands as he refers to them as his "children." He is willing to enter a battle and protect his minions if he feels they are being harmed. However despite his compassion, he is willing to use some force if they do not corporate with him, as he frighted Slimer when he refused to attack the humans. Powers As the Ghost of Halloween, Samhain is a very formible foe for the Ghostbusters. Samhain is presumably a Class 7 ghost like Gozer as he is legendary and a number of ghosts seem somewhat terrified of him. Samhain possesses the ability to halt time and cause eternal night. He has attempted to use this power various times, but is always defeated by the Ghostbusters in the end and his spell is broken. Samhain also has the ability to control entire legions of ghosts, though it is unknown if he controls them himself or they obey him out of fear. The latter may be the most possible as Slimer seemed to drawn by force to him yet did not seem to want to obey him. Samhain also possess an ability to fire black lighting, as he fired one (off screen) at Peter Venkman and the other Ghostbusters during their first encounter. His powers seem to be at their highest point on Halloween as the Ghostbusters were being overworked with a huge increase in ghost activity. Samhain's only real weakness seems to be captivity, as it is the only way to prevent him from halting the night forever. While captive, Samhain is virtually powerless to escape, though he can be released should his prison come in contact with a lazy eight symbol. He also can be warded off by light as a number of ghosts can. This weakness was used against him during his first encounter with the Ghostbusters and they attempted to use it against him during his second coming. Minions Goblins Samhain mainly uses other ghost to aid him on his mission, however he is usually aided by two goblin minions. These two minions have solely been responsible for his release during both conflicts with the Ghostbusters. The two seem to be long time followers of the mighty spirit as they both have been known to constantly utter the name "Samhain." The two only seem to be able to come out on Halloween night to serve their master. Unlike their master, the two have always avoided capture by the Ghostbusters (thus giving Samhain an escape route for future battles). The pair to consists of a green, grinning goblin and a goofy orange goblin. The green one appears to take the lead most of the time, as it seems to always have to remind the orange one of where to go. It also seems to command the orange one to do the work needed to release Samhain (such as drawing lazy eights on his prison). The orange one seems to be the less intellegent one as it seems to always get hit by its partner whenever it makes a mistake and also seems to be the one doing most of the work. It also seems to be the more cowardly one of the group (though its partner can be quite cowardly at times as well). Surprisingly, neither of them appeared in the Now Ghostbusters comic in any of the stories featuring Samhain. Trolls In Now comics #19 it is revealed that Samhain is also friends with Trolls. Based on Folklore Samhain's name comes from the old term. The Samhain term is another word for Halloween in a few Gaelic languages. The Scottish Gaelic spelling is Samhainn or Samhuinn (for the feast), or an t-Samhain (for the month). The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is generally regarded as 'The Celtic New Year'. The same word was used for a month in the ancient Celtic calendar, in particular the first three nights of this month, with the festival marking the end of the summer season and the end of the harvest. A modernized version of this festival continues today in some of the traditions of the Catholic All Souls' Day, the secular Halloween, and in folk practices of Samhain itself in the Celtic Nations and the Irish and Scottish diasporas. It is also observed by various types of Neopagans. Conflicts He was not in or explained in "The Halloween Door" as his story would be connected and the Containment Unit was opened. Also in Extreme Ghostbusters, all the ghost in the containment unit were worshiping another mighty ghost instead of him, while in the show, Samhain seemed to be worshipped by all ghosts as a mighty god. Appearance Samhain's appearance has been altered numerous times throughout the franchise. In his first appearance, he had worn a brown cloak with a large collar. His pumpkin head also had pupils in in its eyes, teeth and gums. The rest of his body was colored orange. After his first appearance, his eyes were made into empty pumpkin eyes and his cloak was made purple. He remained this way throughout all his cameos. When he returned in Halloween II 1/2 as the main villain, his cloak was changed back to brown, but his eyes still remained pupiless. When Samhain appeared in Extreme Ghostbusters, his appearance was greatly altered. His pumpkin head was made green with a carrot nose and reduced greatly in size. His cloak was also made red with a smaller collar. His skin parts were also changed to flesh color. His pumpkin also did not have a yellow glow in the holes like it usually did, instead the inside of the pumpkin glowed blue. Even though he never appeared in the show, Samhain has a figure of him made in the Extreme Ghostbusters toyline. However, he resembled the way he appeared in the Now Real Ghostbusters comic instead of the show's intro. In the Now Ghostbusters comic book series, Samhain's pumpkin appeared more wrinkled and freighting than in the show. Samhain's cloak was also purple at all times, never brown. Samhain's hands were also green instead of orange like in the show. Samhain also had a green skinny neck that held up his pumpkin, something that was never shown in the T.V. series. Episodes The Real Ghostbusters *When Halloween Was Forever *X-Mas Marks the Spot (cameo in the Containment Unit) *The Devil to Pay (fake version) *Halloween II 1/2 *Intro for seasons 4-7 (cameo amongst other ghosts) *Partners in Slime (cameo in the Containment Unit playing cards with three other ghosts) *Jailbusters (picture in a flip book) Extreme Ghostbusters *Intro and Ending of each episode (cameo with altered appearance) New Ghostbusters II Game *One of the bosses resembled him. Category:The Real Ghostbusters Category:Extreme Ghostbusters